In the year of America’s 250th anniversary, DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) is showcasing the genre’s extensive impact and naming the Festival’s 2026 Artists-in-Residence: internationally acclaimed pianist and bandleader Emmet Cohen, and distinctive DMV pianist, composer, and educator Janelle Gill.
Bridging two generations in love of music and cultivation, the dual residency aims to cement jazz as a living art form threaded into America’s ongoing narrative, all the while welcoming others to partake in the story.
“The DC Jazz Festival has built something rare—a residency that truly serves the broad music community and the jazz audience,” said National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master Ron Carter, who also serves on the DCJF board. “Emmet Cohen and Janelle Gill bring imagination, discipline, and spirit to that mission.”
An alumna of Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Howard University, Gill’s deep roots in the D.C.-area jazz community encapsulate a celebrated career of lyrical touch and wide stylistic range.
Her introduction to the craft began with NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis, before she went on to build a repertoire performing alongside Oliver Lake, The Blackbyrds, David Murray, and many leading DMV artists, while featuring on tracks with Kenny Rittenhouse, Kris Funn, and others.
Among other recent triumphs, the virtuoso composed the world premiere IN Series revival of “Ethiopia,” which brought the nation’s never-staged “first living newspaper” – originally written and banned in 1937 – to audiences in Southwest, D.C., and Baltimore in 2025.
“The score, it has Verdi, it has opera, but it also has reggae…spirituals, jazz, more traditional African music –– it has anthems from around the world,” IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson told The Informer, ahead of the show’s June 1, 2025 closing. “It’s one of the richest scores, musical collages that I’ve ever experienced in my career.”
Meanwhile, Cohen, who leads the celebrated Masters Legacy Series, brings his own class act in musical training and dynamic artistry, which has earned widespread acclaim and performances with legends such as Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Tootie Heath, and Carter.
Together, the duo represents the ethos embedded in DCJF’s Artist-in-Residence program: to deepen connections among artists, students, and audiences while celebrating jazz as a vibrant, evolving art form.
As Festival ambassadors and guest curators, they’ll host a year of performances, master classes, and creative collaborations throughout the city, including educational workshops, artist talks, and community programs that reflect the diverse richness of D.C.’s jazz ecosystem.
“It’s a true honor to serve as Artist-in-Residence with the DC Jazz Festival,” Cohen said in the Feb. 18 press release, “and to keep creating music that brings people together in this extraordinary community.”